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Articles about how Bill Gothard mishandles the Bible to support his legalistic viewpoint.

Personal testimonies of finding true freedom through God's matchless grace.

Living and thriving through the grace of God.

Stories and accounts of the destruction caused by the teachings of Bill Gothard.

Category Archives: Personal Stories

Choosing Forgiveness

3 October 2011, 06:00

Moderator

11

When I was 19 I worked for two years to save up enough money to go to Moscow, Russia.  I went with the home school program I was involved in, the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) and I worked hard. Much to my surprise I was quickly singled out as someone with bad intentions. One of […]

Living as God Designed

26 September 2011, 06:00

KylarD

10

“One, I am One of a Kind”… Even by simple observation of nature we see that every created thing does just what it was created to do. Trees, animals, stars, tides. Everything follows its design. Only the rebel creatures do things that are “against nature” such as cancer cells. It is not right. But then […]

Broken Glass

19 September 2011, 07:00

Wendy B

13

As I am going through this process of recognizing and healing from the effects of growing up with IBLP/ATI,  I find that daily life can often draw parallels to what I am feeling internally. I was washing a window in my kitchen today and realized that one of them is broken. It is pointless to […]

Taking the Bait

12 September 2011, 06:00

RickH

11

Hooked on Principles  My story is unique in that I first heard about Bill Gothard when I was an adult. As a college student, I joined a small church in a community in north Austin, Texas. I’d thought about going to seminary much over the previous year but I wasn’t certain that I wanted to […]

My Journey: Legalism, Atheism, and Finally Freedom

5 September 2011, 06:00

Moderator

22

As a teenager in the 1960s, living near Atlanta, Georgia, I often wondered about God and heaven and hoped I had been good enough to get in. Being a normal male who enjoyed life, I wasn’t so sure. My grandparents took me to church, but that stopped when I was 13. During my junior year […]

Created to Worship

29 August 2011, 06:00

Moderator

12

My family joined the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) when I was four years old. We were one of the first year “pilot” families. We attended the Basic and Advanced Seminars as we had time, or when they were close. We were consistently involved in the homeschooling program, as well as Character First!, TELOS, and other […]

A Parent’s Perspective – Sixteen Years in Bondage

22 August 2011, 06:00

Moderator

41

Our journey into the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) began when my second child was about 6 months old. I remember quitting my job as a nurse to become a stay at home mom, and thinking that it was quite a sacrifice. Then, about two years later, my husband came to me and told me that […]

Prisoner of the Glass House

15 August 2011, 06:00

MicahK

12

My childhood and the home I was blessed to live it out in, was shaped from my infancy by teachings from Bill Gothard’s seminars (I was born just months before my parents attended their first of many of his seminars). I can still recall, however, in my youngest years a deep sense of idyllic peace […]

Discovering the Heart of the Father

8 August 2011, 11:00

KylarD

6

  I don’t remember too many of the details of when I got saved at three years old. My guess is that my mom had been explaining to me about God and Jesus dying that He wanted to live in my heart. I do remember mom and dad being there, that I had received a […]

The Chosen Few?

4 August 2011, 06:00

Cyndi

36

“You are the cream of the crop. The Marines on the front lines…” These were words we heard often working for Bill Gothard at the Institute in Basic Life Principles. Two months ago I made a comment to a friend that while I was sure of my salvation, I felt like I was no longer […]